Memories
by Divok
Summary: When all hope is lost there's nothing better to do than sit down and reflect...Warning: Myst V: End of Ages spoilers!
1. Intro

**Memories**

_Intro_

As Esher linked out of the Age I stared at the Tablet. There was only one lock left to be released, and all I had to do was reach out to it to free the Tablet from it's binding. I approached the four locked pedestals, three of which had already been unlocked and now stand drooping away from the Tablet. I reached out to the final pedestal and watched it too move away from the Tablet, leaving the Tablet exposed to my grasp. I reached out and touched the Tablet with my hands and just as Esher had said, I was linked back to K'veer; in the same place I had started this journey.

The Tablet now lied in the center of the four pedestals, unlocked. I took it in my hands and walked out of the "linking sphere". Moments later as I was walking out towards the hallway, Yeesha linked into the room. She made no motion, and she did not say anything. When I approached her with the Tablet though she made a slight gesture with her hands suggesting that I give the Tablet to her. I thought for a moment, and remembered that Esher had warned me not to give Yeesha the Tablet. Also, I recalled that Yeesha, at the start of this journey, strictly commanded me not to give the Tablet to her once it was free. I backed away from Yeesha and surprisingly I did not see any change in her facial expression…she still stood there staring off into the distance, as if she did not notice me at all.

Remembering what Esher had told me before I had released the Tablet, I headed up towards the library in K'veer were the Myst linking book had resided before I started this journey. I took once last glance at Yeesha, then turned around and headed into the hallway…


	2. Ruins

_Ruins_

As I entered the library in K'veer I looked around for the desk in which the Myst book resided on top of. As soon as I spotted it I started advancing towards it. I stared in awe at the book which was now unlocked from the leather straps that once bound it. I lied the Tablet down onto the desk and picked up the Myst linking book.

* * *

I sat down onto the stone stairs that were just to the right of the desk and opened the cover of the book. What I saw shocked me…the scene displayed through the linking panel was vastly different than the one I encountered nearly two hundred or so years ago. The sky was dark and clouded, rain was pouring down onto the island and lightning was striking areas beyond the island…into the sea. The ship at the dock was now capsized and partially submerged below the surface of the water. The mechanical gears that were just beyond the stairs on the island were rusted and have greatly deteriorated. While wanting to revisit this forgotten island I placed my hand onto the linking panel and felt myself being pulled into the image of the island. Then I realized…I had completely forgotten about the Tablet.

* * *

I arrived on the dock, as I had when I first discovered a Myst linking book, but back then the island had been sunny and well-maintained, now it looked as if no one had been here for an entire century. The metal wall lining the other side of the dock was rusted and the door to the image viewer wouldn't budge. I wondered if the messages would still work even if I had been able to open the sliding door. A crack of thunder caught my attention and I turned around to the source of the sound. There in front of me was the partly submerged wooden ship. The entrance to the cabin of the ship was still shut. I questioned whether or not Atrus had removed every linking book from this Age. Perhaps I could find a way back and retrieve the Tablet. I figured the Myst library would be a good place to search for a linking book; it is a library after all.

* * *

As I headed up the small staircase and onto the main part of the island I noticed that the grass was severely overgrown and swayed freely with the wind, the trees in the small forest had lost most of their leaves, including the tree elevator. As I staring up at the top of that massive tree elevator I heard footsteps, as I looked towards the source I saw that Esher was standing there…with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Do you have the Tablet?" he asked in a hopeful voice.

I looked around for some sort of way out, then realizing I needed to respond I stated, "No, I left it behind…" then he gave me a look of annoyance.

"After _everything_…" Esher started, then he paused and changed his tone. "Did you not trust me? After all the help I provided…all the aid and assistance!" His tone changed again to a sarcastic one, "Well done, now it has slipped into her hands."

"But…" I started.

"Wasted!" Esher shouted. "Fool! Now your journey has been a waste!" He paused and looked around the island. "…and this island, which once represented escape, is now your _prison_." I took a step backwards as he continued. "You've failed! You have accomplished _nothing_!" Esher took a long pause as he looked away towards the sea. Then he swayed a little bit as if he were thinking. He turned towards me and said calmly, "…and there is no way for you. No one will come for you. Myst Island will be your end…_forever_." He stepped backwards and took one final look at me. Then he placed his hand on his right shoulder and linked out of the Age, leaving me in the rain…alone.


	3. The Island Part I

_The Island (Part I)_

I stood there, stunned, for the next few minutes. Finally sense came to me and I decided to take refuge inside a building. I entered the library and looked around…in the middle of the room I saw a stand. It looks as if it were designed to hold the Tablet. At least one thing was for certain, Esher did not acquire a hold of the Tablet and that comforted me after he revealed who he really was to me out there in the storm. When I looked up I took notice that all of the books on the library's bookshelf had been removed, and that nothing but dust was held there now. Two hundred years earlier the books that had rested on this shelf were burnt from Sirrus's and Achenar's act of evil. Though after their burning of the books a few remained intact. Those that Atrus believed to be most valuable were hidden in locations throughout the island…locations that now seemed to be inaccessible. I now peered over at the empty shelf to the left of the bookshelf. A large black spot was positioned in the middle of the shelf, a mark of the evil committed by Sirrus. The black spot was created when Atrus burned the linking book to Sirrus's prison age, Spire. On the outer rim of the burn was a small spot of red…probably a piece of the red fabric that once covered the linking book to Sirrus's prison age. A similar scene appeared at the other shelf across the room, except for that there was a small piece of blue fabric from the cover of the linking book to Achenar's prison age, Haven…but although both of the books were destroyed it wasn't the end of Sirrus and Achenar, their ages had still existed, only those particular links had been destroyed in Atrus's anger.

* * *

The next place my eyes shot to was the fireplace, too bad I didn't remember the code used to turn it around…if it would even turn around nowadays. There was probably no power supplied to it, nor even if it had power the gears may have been too rusted and degraded to turn it. The next thought that occurred to me was what if Atrus had left a linking book in one of the secret locations on the island. I made a mental list in my mind of all the places I could remember. The fireplace, the gears, the cabin located on the now capsized ship, the book behind the glass in the rocket ship, and I couldn't remember the last one, but I did remember that all of the places on the island were listed on the map located in the library. I turned around to look for the map, it was not where I had expected it to be though, it had been knocked down since the abandonment of this age. Thankfully the locations were all lit up on the map. 

"Of course!" I thought, "…below the tree elevator! That won't do me any good though, there's probably no way to get down there now…besides…I never liked the Channelwood Age." The only thing left I could think of to do in the library was to check and see if I could open the secret hallway behind the bookshelf that had once led to the Tower of Rotation directly behind the library, but unfortunately the pictures that moved the bookshelf out of the way had been removed. So I left the library and reentered the storm.

Down the way I could see the old clock tower and the log cabin through the trees, but since the rocket ship was just to the right of me I decided to examine it first. As I approached the brick and stone walkway to the ship a lightning bolt struck the power line leading from the generator room to the ship, causing sparks to fly out and the sound of the thunder nearly knocked me off my feet. Truthfully this place was actually eerily peaceful, except for the occasional loud crack of thunder. There was a certain romantic, as in the artistic style, feeling to the entire island.

* * *

I clung to the hand ropes that lined to walkway to the rocket ship. The wind at this end of the island was far more intense than it was back in front of the library or down at the dock. Perhaps the storm was increasing in strength, or perhaps I was starting to weaken. Anyways, I made myself over to the interior of the rocket ship, luckily enough the door to it was open and I was able to step inside. The controls for the "lock" the was used to hide the linking book to the Selentic Age had been reset…I could move the controls but I could not remember the correct combination, even if I did there's a good chance that nothing to on the other side of the window that lay directly above the controls. He turned around to face the back of the rocket ship. The organ, or piano, or whatever it was as still there too. Except when I placed my fingers down onto the keys the notes did not play. 

"So much for that…" I said. The only sound I could hear besides my voice was the sound of rain when it was hitting the metal roof of the rocket ship right over my head. I've always loved that sound, it brings back happy memories that I can't exactly place. Kind of like the way a smell can remind you of something very familiar. After watching the lightning strike the other clouds in the sky from the interior of the rocket ship for about the next ten minutes I felt fatigue grasping a hold of me. After all it had been a long day. I lied down on the floor of the rocket ship and tried to pull the door closed, but I managed only to get it about halfway. So I gave up on the door and slept.


End file.
